Stamping device



July 2,' 1957 F. J. HITCH STAMPING DEVICE Filed Aprile, 1954 IHI'III! lll l STAMPING DEVIGE Frederick Joseph Hitch, Perth, WesternAustralia, Australia Application AprilZ, 1954, Serial No. 420,637

Claims priority, application Australia April 10, 1953 3 Claims. (Cl. lill- 333) invention relates to a stamping device.

The stamping devices common in ofiices for stamping the dates of receipt, recording and other da-ta become laborious to -oper-ate when there are a large number of documents to be stamped.

It is for this reason that the present invention has been devised. It permits a suit-able stamp to be connected to the mechanism and then the latter is operated by fo-ot pressure or other power. This permits an increase over the normal number of documents stamped and does not cause any undue fatigue to the operator.

The invention consists broadly of a stamping device which includes two pairs of swinging levers which are parallel; axles on which these pairs of levers pivot at or near one end thereof; a frame to which the far ends of these levers are pivoted, a st-amping unit connected to the frame with the marking face downward-s and horizontal; and springs acting on the swinging levers so that when they are turned downwards against the springs they maintain parallelism and support the stamping pad and the face thereof in a horizontal plane throughout the downward movement.

The invention will, however, more readily be understood by reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

Figure l is a side elevation of a stamping pad in which the near side casing has been removed, whilst:

Fig. 2 is a front elevation thereof.

As shown in these drawings, there is a casing which is open at the front and partly open at the bot-tom. There are two pairs of swinging levers 11 and 12, these being respectively mounted on axles 13 and 14. The levers 12 are preferably not pivoted at their extreme end and past this they are engaged by springs 15 and 16 connected to the bottom of the casing.

There are cross bars 17 and 18 which connect the pairs of levers 12 and 11 and to these cross bars are attached springs 19 and 20 fixed to the casing.

At their upper ends the pairs of swinging levers are pivoted to a cross bl-ock member 21 and side frame suppor-ts 22 which act as a frame for the support of a` stamping unit 23, the stamping face of which faces downwardly. An extension of the cross block member 21 may be in the form of an operating handle 24 by means of which the swinging levers can be turned downwardly against the action of the springs, whilst there is the usual change lever 25 for operation each time a change in some unit in the stamp pad is desired. This of course is common practice.

There is an nking pad 26 which has an absorbent face containing the ink iiuid and pressing up against the stamping face when the device is in the upper position as shown in the drawings. This inking pad has side frame members which are pivoted at 27 t-o the casing or an extension there-of, and it has supported therefrom on each side pad control rollers 28. Extending from the nking pad below is a retracting extension 29 which is engaged by a spring 30. In the bottom of the casing there Will be an opening United States Patent() l ice 31. Thisisto .allow .the passage of a lever (not shown) which will be vpivoted to the cross bar 18 and lwill extend down to a foot control whenzthe stamp is to be operated 'by foot orotherf source of power.

Intoperatiomthe leversare pulled downwardly against the, action of the springs, this being done either by the hand lever 24 or b-y the foot control previously referred to. This -movement continues untilthe downwardly facing stamping face engages against the document or the like which is t-o be stamped. When the pairs of levers 11 andv 12 movedownwardly, they maintain their parallelism throughout and the supporting frame members 21 and 22 maintain the stamping unit 23 in the same position asit is in the drawings.

Vilhenthe swinging leverscommence to move downwardly, the first effect is that the pad control rollers 28 are released from the swinging levers 12 on each side. The result is that the spring 30 engaging the extension 29 of .such inking pad moves the pad radially so Ithat it passes clear of the path of the stamping face.

lWhen the document or the like has been stamped and the levers are released, they of course move up under spring action and in due course the swinging levers 112 engage the pad control rollers 28 and move the pad radially against the action of .the lspring 30 so that the pad is caused to engage against the face of the stamp and to re-ink it.

I claim:

l. A manually operated stamping device comprising -a frame, an nking pad pivotally mounted on the frame, a stamping unit provided with a marking face, each side of the unit being pivotally connected to the side of the frame by means of a pair of parallel link members whereby the Istamping unit may be moved from a position adjacent the nking pad to a stamping position with the marking face downwards and substantially horizontal, roller means connected to the nking pad and adapted to run on the uppermost of the link members so that when the stamping unit is in the non-operative position the nking pad is in contact with the marking face and when the stamping unit is moved to the operating position the inking pad is retracted out of the path of the stamping unit, first spring means urging the nking pad towards the retracted position, second spring means urging the stamping unit towards the non-operative position and manual operating means connected to the stamping unit.

2. A manually operated stamping device comprising a casing open on one side, an nking p-ad pivotally mounted adjacent the top of the open side of the casing, a stamping unit provided with a marking face, each side of the unit being pivotally connected to the ends of a pair of parallel link members the other ends of which are pivotally mounted on shafts secured within the casing whereby the stamping unit may be moved from a position adjacent the nking pad to a stamping position substantially contiguous with the bottom of the casing with the marking face downwards and substantially horizontal, roller means carried by arms extending upwardly from each side of the nking pad and adapted to run on the uppermost of the link members so that when the stamping unit is in the non-operative position the nking pad i-s in contact with the marking face and when the stamping unit is moved to the operating position the inkingr pad is retracted out of the path of the stamping unit, a first coil spring connected between the nking pad and the casing to draw the nking pad towards the retracted position, second coil springs connected between the link members and the casing to draw the stamping unit towards the non-operative position and manual operating means connected to the stamping unit.

3. A manually operated stamping device comprising a casing open on one side, an nking pad pivotally mounted adjacent the top of the open side of the casing, `a stamping unit provided with a marking face, each side of the unit being pivotally connected to the ends of 'a pair lof parallel link members projecting through the open side of the casing and pivotally mounted lat the other lends .on shafts secured within the casing, the other end of the upper link members being provided with `short extensions, so' that the stamping unit may be moved from ya position adjacent the inking padto a stamping position substantially contiguous with the bottom of the casing with the marking face d-ownwards -and substantially horizontal, roller means carried by arms extending upwardly from each side of the inking pad and yadapted to run on the uppermost of` the link members so that when the stamping unit is in the nonopera-tive position the inking pad is inc-ontact with the marking face and when the stamping unit is moved to the operating position the inking pad is retracted out` of the path of the stamping unit, a first coil vspring connectedv between the inking pad and the casing to draw the inking y' References Cited in the le of this patent `UNITED STATES PATENTS 702,753 Watkins .Tune 17, 1902 1,183,547 Folger etal May 16, 1916 1,608,861 Putnam Nov. 30, 1926 1,639,360 Wood-worth Aug. 16, 1927 1,758,436 Fitzgerald May 13, 1930 1,808,812 Glass June 9, 1931 1,870,430 Whitlock Aug. 9, 1932 2,660,116 Lutyens Nov. 24, 1953 

